Priests Lose in Bid to Seal Church Files

A state appellate court Monday rejected efforts of three Catholic priests who are suspected of molesting children to stop Los Angeles County prosecutors from seeing their church personnel records.

Unless the ruling is blocked in additional appeals, hearings would be held by a court-appointed special master to determine which records are protected by privacy rights similar to doctor-patient privileges, said Donald Steier, who represents the priests.

Steier said he had not decided whether to appeal the decision further.

In its ruling, the 2nd District Court of Appeal upheld the power of a grand jury to subpoena records for the first time.

Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley called the decision a “landmark” that will help prosecutors gain evidence and “investigative leads” in their probe of Catholic priests suspected of abusing children.

Deputy Dist. Atty. William Hodgman, head of the office’s sex crimes unit, said the ruling is significant because California law has not previously provided “explicit direction” on whether a grand jury’s authority included demanding documents from the targets of its investigations.

“This is a huge, huge step for us,” he said.

Steier said he was not surprised by the ruling.

“Had we prevailed, it would mean the grand jury had been acting without authority for the past 60 years,” he said. “We understood that the Court of Appeals would not be inclined to reach that conclusion.”

The records at issue include psychological evaluations and other personnel documents. Steier has contended that state and federal privacy laws, including attorney-client privilege, protect the documents from disclosure.

“In the big picture, the D.A. is trying to obtain the files to locate more victims,” Steier said. “Those victims themselves have the right of privacy. They are adults now.... They can come forward if they want to. We object to the D.A. trying to ferret them out.”

The archdiocese has already turned over the records to the grand jury in response to its subpoenas. But the records were immediately locked in a vault at the order of a Superior Court judge when Steier moved to quash the subpoenas pending a hearing.

Superior Court Judge Dan T. Oki had ruled that the records could be viewed by the grand jury and prosecutors, but Steier immediately appealed.

The appeal was filed on behalf of Father Michael Stephen Baker and Father Michael Wempe, both retired, and Father David Granadino. Baker has since been charged with multiple allegations of child molestation.

Steier has argued before the appellate court that state law gives grand juries the power to subpoena witnesses, but says nothing about obtaining documents. He also argued that even if grand juries had such powers, the Los Angeles subpoenas were illegal because they failed to include an affidavit explaining why the information was sought and how it related to the investigation.

The three-member appellate panel disagreed. It cited a section in the state penal code going back to the 1930s that instructed grand juries to specifically require a witness to bring to the grand jury documents or other papers that the jurors believe necessary to carry out their duties.

The panel also said a grand jury is not required to explain why it wants a subpoena in any detail because that would defeat the purpose of an investigation.